Since LEDs are distinguished by high efficiency and a long life, they are being used more and more often for illumination purposes in which incandescent lamps have hitherto usually been used. If an LED illumination device is to be operated using a mains voltage, for example an AC voltage of approximately 220 V or 110 V, a power supply unit containing a transformer and a rectifier will generally be connected upstream of the LED illumination device. The transformer transforms the mains voltage to a lower voltage which is usually less than 15 V. A rectifier, for example a half-wave rectifier or a bridge rectifier, uses the low-voltage AC voltage at the output of the transformer to generate a DC voltage. The rectifiers used are, for example, diode rectifiers which are fitted with one diode in the case of the half-wave rectifier or with four diodes in the case of the bridge rectifier.
In the case of LED illumination devices which are to be mass-produced in a cost-effective manner, it is often desired to minimize the number of components contained in the electronic circuit arrangement in order to reduce the production cost. This aim is pursued, in particular, in the case of circuit arrangements which contain wired components since the cost of wiring associated with each additional component in such circuit arrangements gives rise to a comparatively large proportion of the total production costs. However, it is also advantageous to reduce the number of components in the case of components which are constructed as surface-mounted devices in order to reduce the cost of assembly.